Comments on: Manageable Awfulness and How to Let Bad Things Happen

By: Lou

Lou — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 05:29:47 +0000

I can’t process so many awesome posts in one night, buddy. I need to go to bed!

By: Oleg

Oleg — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 18:26:13 +0000

Good post. I think bad things can happen when you have too many creative pursuits and that can be cause of fear of making a mistake. Sometimes you just have to focus on present moment.

By: Interesting Friday Articles 6/25/10 « God, Gathering and Growth

Interesting Friday Articles 6/25/10 « God, Gathering and Growth — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 16:37:05 +0000

[...] Manageable awfulness and how to let bad things happen [...]

By: shreevidya

shreevidya — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:53:04 +0000

a very lovely and awesome thoughts. great one!

By: Travis W-B

Travis W-B — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 00:27:36 +0000

Few things work perfectly for everyone. Diets, exercise programs, even ideas may be beneficial to 99.99% of the population, and deadly to the other .01%. Nature never repeats itself when it comes to life forms, and so we can always expect varying results in nature’s universe.

Taking risks is one of the fundamental challenges of being alive. If you aren’t taking them, you’re as dead you can be without being sealed up in a coffin.

Great post, Scott.

By: Wendy Irene

Wendy Irene — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:47:25 +0000

Good for you for facing your fears and doing it anyway, that takes courage! Funny how we let the few bad things that happen sometimes carry a lot of weight, when they shouldn’t. A negative comment should not stay with us more than a positive one; however that is very hard to not let happen. I like the idea of turning a negative into a positive and maybe doing something constructive from it. I believe you know it, but being young with less life experience does not make your thoughts less valuable. It is funny I think no matter how old you are a part of you always feels that way when your audience is older than you. I know I’ve felt that way before. Own your thoughts and beliefs no matter your age, and be open to them changing. That is the best any of us can do!

By: Karl Sakas

Karl Sakas — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:11:23 +0000

My favorite line is “the only way to have zero unsatisfied customers is to have zero customers.”

Absolutely — some people will be unhappy along the way, but if you’re providing a solid product or service, it will be a tiny fraction.

Customer service expert Ben McConnell refers to the “Tyranny of One” — we should respond to customer feedback but we shouldn’t suddenly add a million new rules (which make things worse for everyone else) just because one person complains: http://www.churchofthecustomer.com/blog/2007/12/the-tyranny-of.html

By: Nancy P

Nancy P — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:41:06 +0000

If you never try then you will never fail. Most successful entrepeneurs will be able to tell you about the time they didn’t have success and what they learned from it. It is impossible to keep everyone happy all the time, listen to those that aren’t happy and see if there is value in what they have to say. Most of the time the issues are theirs and not yours.

If your concern about problems or failures is holding you back then it’s probably worth looking at–what is at the root of what’s holding you back?

By: Alexander

Alexander — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 10:47:26 +0000

Strictly speaking, you shouldn’t avoid anything “at all cost”. You can never fully avoid that while driving you’ll randomly pass out and run someone over. Causing someone’s death is the worst thing you can do, and yet most people drive. Eating a cookie may cause you to choke on it. Even being alive bears great risks to others and we’ll need to accept that.

Trying your best yields a positive outcome on average. I think we can usually rationally figure out whether a risk is worth it or not. Just like you risk death by eating a car or driving a cookie you risk 100% customer dissatisfaction by executing an idea. But you know it’s worth it.

The real problem is how to get ourselves to acknowledge the outcome of our rational evaluation and keep by it, even when it starts to clash with the irrational bad feeling we’ll have when we get closer. I’ve been particularly bad at this.

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:39:28 +0000

Love this post. Great job.

“The only way to have zero unsatisfied customers is to have zero customers.”

BOOM!